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[Dannyalcatraz]

I've been reading this book. Secrets From The Eating Lab. It's enlightening.

Secrets From the Eating Lab: The... Amazon.com

In all the research I've found, physical activity is the biggest factor in if you're healthy or not. Physical activity was one of the things they could control for. Diets don't work. Shame and discrimination doesn't work. Will power isn't a factor. Eat better, exercise more, and stress less. You'll live longer and be happier. My biggest problem is the exercise. I can't get myself to do it.

There was a study done in the UK across their armed forces, and one interesting finding was that HOW you consume your calories matters.

They had test subjects consume identical meals, but some were served in their traditional forms with distinct dishes & ingredients, and others were puréed (at least partially) into soups. The subjects who had the soups reported feeling fuller for longer- put differently, they simply got less hungry less often.

The simple difference in the meals’ physical form kept the food in their upper GI tracts longer. This suggested that meals like this might minimize snacking between meals.

As for exercise…yeah, that’s always a major factor. However, I’ll note that intense mental activity can supposedly burn as many calories as light exercise.

McNay agrees that our brains don’t expend a whole lot more energy during tough tasks than during simple ones. A person doing cognitively challenging work for eight hours would burn about 100 more calories than a person watching TV or daydreaming for the same amount of time, he estimates. “If you were doing something really demanding that uses multiple senses—something like learning to play an instrument—that might get as high as 200 [calories],” he says. “But we’re talking eight hours of learning a new instrument.”

Does Thinking Burn Calories? Here's What the Science Says

Your brain uses more energy than you think

time.com

So, maybe if you’re having trouble getting moving, try getting yourself thinking. Start learning an instrument or a language. Or programming. Or some form of artistic expression. (Just make sure you don’t eat crappy snacks while you’re doing so. )

 

[Aeson]

I've heard that about taking the SAT and other tests. My brain is the muscle I work out the most. lol It has to be to carry around all that pop culture trivia and random useless facts.

As for pureed meals. It sounds counterintuitive. You'd think since some of the digestive work is done it would go through your system faster. Kinda like why they recommend avoiding sugary drinks. It would enter your blood stream faster. Smoothies aren't too good for diabetics for that reason, or so I've heard. I was drinking them for a time as a way to get more vegetables.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As for pureed meals. It sounds counterintuitive. You'd think since some of the digestive work is done it would go through your system faster. Kinda like why they recommend avoiding sugary drinks. It would enter your blood stream faster. Smoothies aren't too good for diabetics for that reason, or so I've heard. I was drinking them for a time as a way to get more vegetables.

It sounded counterintuitive to me as well. And at the time of the study, they had only begun to research the WHY.

With smoothies, though, it’s that the sugars are already in an easily processed form- the sugars- many of them added- are of kinds the body doesn’t have to do much work on to convert directly into metabolizable fuel…or fat.